Rutgers University freshmen are charged with invasion of privacy for using a hidden camera on a student

Star-Ledger file photoA view of a sign on the Rutgers campus in New Brunswick. Two Rutgers students are charged with broadcasting a live feed of a student engaged in a sexual act.

PISCATAWAY — In a case of video voyeurism gone high-tech, a pair of Rutgers University freshmen secretly placed a camera in a dorm room earlier this month and broadcast a live feed of a fellow student’s "sexual encounter" on the internet, police said Tuesday.

It is unclear how many people saw the intimate images of the unsuspecting 18-year-old on the Piscataway campus on the web, law enforcement officials said. But someone eventually tipped off campus police.

Dharun Ravi, 18, of Plainsboro, and Molly Wei,18, of Princeton, were charged with two counts each of invasion of privacy for using the camera Sept. 19 to view and transmit the live sex scene, said Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan.

Ravi is also charged with two additional counts of invasion of privacy for unsuccessfully trying to capture a second scene involving the same student two days later, Kaplan said.

Ravi and Wei — who were classmates at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North before enrolling at Rutgers this fall — did not respond to e-mail requests to comment Tuesday. Steve Altman, Ravi’s attorney, also declined to comment.

Rutgers officials said the students may also face discipline on campus for the alleged invasion of privacy.

"The university takes these matters seriously and has policies to deal with student behavior. Under federal law, the university cannot comment on specifics involving student conduct," said Sandra Lanman, a Rutgers spokeswoman.

Ravi surrendered to Rutgers police Tuesday and was released on $25,000 bail, the prosecutor’s office said. Wei surrendered to the campus police Monday and was released on her own recognizance.

Investigators refused to comment on where the live feed was broadcast on the internet, how many people were involved in the sexual encounter or how Ravi and Wei knew the unsuspecting 18-year-old. Law enforcement officials said they are trying to protect the identity of the victim.

In Ravi’s Twitter feed, he referred cryptically to iChat, an internet instant messaging service that includes live video feeds.

"Roommate asked for room again. Its happening again. People with iChat don’t you dare video chat me from 930 to 12," Ravi said in the message posted to his Twitter account Sept. 22, one day after police said he tried to broadcast the second sex scene on the Internet. His Twitter feed has 150 followers.

Both Ravi and Wei have been enrolled at Rutgers less than a month. Wei is majoring in pharmacy at Rutgers’ Ernest Mario School Of Pharmacy, according the Rutgers web site. Ravi’s major is not listed.

Under New Jersey’s invasion-of-privacy laws, it is a fourth degree crime to collect or view images depicting nudity or sexual contact involving another individual without that person’s consent, the prosecutor said. It is a third degree crime to transmit or distribute the images.

If the students are convicted on a third degree offense they could face up to five years in prison each under state law. Conviction on a fourth-degree crime could lead to probation or up to 18 months in prison.

Investigators asked that anyone with information about this case or similar voyeurism incidents, call Rutgers police at (732) 932-8025, or the county prosecutor’s office at (732) 745-3300.